Since 2014, Wirral has been a member of the Liverpool City Region. So, what does this mean for you?
It means that Wirral residents can reap the benefits of devolved, local leadership – capturing opportunities that may previously have been out of reach and accessing funding only obtainable to areas with Combined Authority status.
Steve Rotheram is Mayor of the Liverpool City Region. Since he was elected in 2017, he has been committed to building a fairer, more equal future for the 1.6 million people who call our area home, where no one is left behind.
In what has been a challenging year for many households, Mayor Rotheram has made it his priority to ensure that families in our area feel protected from the worst impacts of the cost-of living crisis.
From the Mayor’s Young Person’s Guarantee, which promises all of our young people a job, training or apprenticeship, to Housing First, a radical new approach to helping the homeless, we are leading the way in building a fairer, more inclusive local economy.
To date thousands of our most vulnerable families have been helped to save hundreds of pounds on their energy bills as a result of the Mayor Rotheram’s £105m retrofitting programme – with many families given a chance to get on the property ladder in quality, affordable homes through his Brownfield Land Fund.
The Mayor’s interventions have created tens of thousands of jobs and apprenticeships, with more than £50m invested in local schools and colleges including Wirral Met College. Hundreds of long-term unemployed people have also been supported through our Households into Work programme.
Last year, the Mayor approved a £51 million investment to kick-start the regeneration of a former gasworks site around Hind Street in Birkenhead, which will improve transport links, commercial spaces and leisure facilities as well as 1,500 new homes.
Wirral’s was once again in the cultural spotlight as Borough of Culture last year, thanks to the Mayor’s commitment to spend at least 1% of the city region’s funding specifically for culture every year.
The Mayor is well on the way to building an integrated London-style public transport network that makes it cheaper, faster, cleaner and more reliable to get around. Despite rising to £3 nationally, the Mayor has stepped in to extend the region’s £2 bus fare cap until at least September 2025, keeping travelling by bus affordable for residents across the region.
Liverpool City Region residents also benefit from one of the most generous concessionary travel schemes in the country. Residents are entitled to receive their travel passes when they turn 60 – a full seven years ahead of the national scheme. There are also discount schemes that help young people, apprentices and people with disabilities to benefit from fare reductions or to travel for free.
The popular night bus service has also been reinstated to help residents travel safely across the Mersey into the early hours of the morning. More than £100m has also been invested in active travel infrastructure to make walking and cycling safer and easier than ever before.
The Mayor made the historic decision to take back control of the region’s bus network, which will give local leaders greater say over fares, routes and timetables. In the past 12 months, the rollout of the region’s new £500m publicly owned trains across the Merseyrail network has also been completed, with a new train station coming to Woodchurch by 2030.
Ensuring the next generation inherits a greener, cleaner Liverpool City Region is a key priority for the Mayor – under his plans, we will hit net zero carbon by 2035 at the latest, at least a decade before national government targets. Our pioneering work on Mersey Tidal Power, which has the potential to generate enough renewable energy to power 1m homes and create thousands of local jobs and training opportunities, will have a big role to play in helping our city region hit its targets.
| 2024 to 2025 | 2025 to 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Expenditure | £241,908,000 | £292,713,000 |
| Income and specific grants | -£121,817,000 | -£161,066,000 |
| Income from Levy | -£105,300,000 | -£107,090,000 |
| Contributions from Reserves | -£6,694,000 | -£14,098,000 |
| Council Tax Requirement | £8,098,000 | £10,459,000 |
| Tax base | £426,235,000 | £435,808 |
| Band D Equivalent | £19.00 | £24.00 |
The movement in the gross expenditure budget is shown in the table below.
| Gross expenditure 2024 to 2025 | £241,908,000 |
| Additional Treasury Management Income | -£2,000,000 |
| Transport Related Expenditure funded by Reserves | £7,398,000 |
| Net Change in Revenue Grant Funded Activity | £36,959,000 |
| Inflationary and other cost pressures | £6,067,000 |
| Mayoral Priorities | £2,381,000 |
| Gross Expenditure 2025 to 2026 | £292,713,000 |
Find out more about the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s (LCRCA) transport responsibilities are funded through transport levies across each of the six councils. This funds concessionary travel, subsidised bus services, the Mersey Ferries and a range of other services.
The transport levy 2025 to 2026 for each of the Merseyside Councils within the LCRCA is:
| Transport Levy 2024 to 2025 |
Transport Levy 2025 to 2026 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Knowsley | £11,471,000 | £11,708,000 |
| Liverpool | £36,276,000 | £37,036,000 |
| Sefton | £20,518,000 | £20,788,000 |
| St Helens | £13,486,000 | £13,674,000 |
| Wirral | £23,548,000 | £23,884,000 |
| Total | £105,300,000 | £107,090,000 |
For historical and legal reasons, Halton Borough Council currently provides transport activities directly within the boundaries of the borough of Halton.
The orders that created the Combined Authority allowed for a differential levy recognising that Halton Borough Council remains responsible for transport in the Halton area, whereas the other areas of the Combined Authority remain the responsibility of Merseytravel. This levy will be £3,455,000 for 2025 to 2026.
Mayor Steve Rotheram
Mayor of the Liverpool City Region
Mr John Fogarty, BA Hons
Executive Director of Corporate Services
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority